File downloading apparatus and method for mobile communication system

ABSTRACT

A file downloading apparatus of a mobile terminal in a mobile communication system, includes a signal processing unit which processes a signal received through an antenna of the mobile terminal, a memory which stores data outputted from the signal processing unit, a download status checker which checks the download status of a file by monitoring the data stored in the memory, and a CPU which controls the signal processing unit and the download status checker. In the file downloading mechanism, it is possible to resume downloading of the file from the point at which the download was stopped in the previous data transfer session even though the data transfer link is broken during the downloading of the file due to unexpected network problems or other problems.

[0001] The present application claims, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, theforeign priority benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 34472/2002filed on Jun. 20, 2002, the entire contents of which are hereinincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to a radio communication systemand, in particular, to a file downloading apparatus and method for amobile terminal, which are capable of downloading files from a certainserver on a public network.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] As technologies advance quickly in the radio communication field,the development of contents applicable to the radio communicationenvironment will give new opportunities to computer game businesses.Among them, a business for providing digital contents to mobileterminals such as cellular phones stands out as one of the mostpromising fields. Accessing the contents web sites using mobileterminals is rapidly increasing.

[0006] Due to the commercialization of the IMT-200 represented by athird generation mobile communication system, it is possible to downloada large data file containing data such as music, movie, game, etc. to amobile terminal and use it.

[0007] In a general mobile communication system supporting the filedownload operations, when a subscriber wants to download a file from acertain site on the Internet, a mobile terminal transmits an Internetconnection request signal including an IP address of a contents serverto a base station system (BTS). The BTS then establishes a connectionbetween the mobile terminal and the contents server on the Internetthrough a gateway using the information in the Internet connectionrequest signal. When the connection to the contents server isestablished, the mobile terminal can download a specific file throughkeypad manipulation.

[0008] However, in the conventional mobile communication system, if themobile terminal gets away from the BTS or if other mobile terminalssimultaneously access the BTS while the current mobile terminal isconnected to the contents server and downloading a file, then a datatransmission rate is lowered, resulting in the increase of a downloadtime and cost.

[0009] Furthermore, when the mobile terminal retries to download thefile which is not completely downloaded because the download connectionis unwontedly released, the conventional file downloading method hasanother drawback in that the mobile terminal must re-download the entirefile again even though a portion of the associated file has already beendownloaded during the previous interrupted connection. The undesiredinterruption of the download connection can occur due to the mobileterminal entering a radio shadow area, the battery being empty, thevoice call reception during the download session, or some other reasons.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The present invention has been made in an effort to solve theabove and other problems associated with the related art.

[0011] It is an object of the present invention to provide a filedownloading apparatus and method for a mobile communication systemcapable of reducing a file downloading time and thereby communicationcost by resuming the downloading of the same file from a point where thedata transfer link has been broken in the middle of the previousdownload session for the file.

[0012] In one aspect of the present invention, the file downloadingapparatus of a mobile terminal in a communication system which supportsa file download service, comprises: a signal processing unit whichprocesses a signal received through an antenna of the mobile terminal; amemory which stores data outputted from the signal processing unit; adownload status checker which checks download status of a file bymonitoring the data stored in the memory; and a CPU which controls thesignal processing unit and the download status checker.

[0013] In another aspect of the present invention, the file downloadingmethod for a mobile terminal in a communication system which supports afile download service, comprises: (a) determining whether or not a filedownload signal is inputted; (b) establishing a data transfer link witha contents server when the download signal is inputted; (c) downloadinga target file; (d) determining whether or not the file is completelyfinished; (e) determining whether or not a download suspension signal isinputted when the download is not finished; (f) storing data of thetarget file downloaded up to the input of the download suspension signalas a temporary file when the download suspension signal is inputted; and(g) terminating the downloading of the target file and returning to step(a).

[0014] These and other objects of the present application will becomemore readily apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter.However, it should be understood that the detailed description andspecific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of theinvention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changesand modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from this detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide afurther understanding of the invention and are incorporated in andconstitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of theinvention and together with the description serve to explain theprinciples of the invention. In the drawings:

[0016]FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a mobile communicationsystem supporting a file download according to the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a file downloadingapparatus of a mobile terminal in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0018]FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a file downloading method of amobile terminal in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0019]FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a user-request downloadprocedure in FIG. 3 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0020]FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a system-request downloadprocedure in FIG. 3 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0021]FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a user request-downloadtermination procedure in FIG. 3 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention; and

[0022]FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a system request-downloadtermination procedure in FIG. 3 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be describedhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0024]FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a mobile communicationsystem supporting file download operations according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

[0025] As depicted in FIG. 1, when a user desires to download a filefrom a certain site on the Internet or some other network such asextranet, intranet, etc., a mobile terminal 110 (160) transmits anInternet/network connection request signal which generally includes anIP address of a contents server 150, to a base station system (BTS) 120.As a result, the BTS 120 establishes a connection between the mobileterminal 110 and the contents server 150 over the Internet 140 through agateway 130 using the information in the Internet connection requestsignal. The process of establishing the connection between the mobileterminal and the BTS is performed according to known techniques. Whenthe connection to the contents server 150 is established, the mobileterminal 110 can download a specific file or data group through keypador input device manipulation.

[0026]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a file downloadingapparatus 200 of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. The file downloading apparatus 200 can be implementedin the mobile terminal 110, 160 of FIG. 1 or other suitable devices.

[0027] As depicted in FIG. 2, the file downloading apparatus 200includes a signal processing unit 210 for processing a signal receivedthrough an antenna or other means; a modem 220 for demodulating thesignal processed in the signal processing unit 210; a storage or memory240 for storing data including demodulated data, downloaded files(partial or complete), download status information, etc.; a downloadstatus checker 250 for checking the status of the data stored in thememory 240 and storing in a storage 250 a and/or the memory 240 thedownloaded status information; a video data processor 260 and an audiodata processor 270 for processing video and audio data from the modem220 or the memory 240, respectively; a display 280 for displaying amotion picture or video signal processed in the video data processor260; a speaker 290 for outputting audibly the audio signal output fromthe audio data processor 270; and a CPU 230 for controlling theabove-mentioned elements. All the components of the file downloadingapparatus 200 are operatively coupled. In this example, the display 280is a liquid crystal display (LCD), but can be any other type of displaydevice.

[0028] While downloading a file from the contents server 150 (FIG. 1),the download status checker 250 of the mobile terminal periodicallychecks and updates status information (e.g., a data amount of theassociated file which is accumulated in the memory 240, a next expectedbyte offset, and the like), and stores in the memory 240 and/or in itsown storage 250 a the status information updated just before the datatransfer line of the associated download session is broken. The statusinformation is transmitted to the contents server 150 over the Internet140 when there is a download request on the same file, such that thefile download is resumed where the data transfer link has been broken.In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the filedownloading method will be exemplary explained with the byte offset asthe status information.

[0029] The operation of the above-structured file downloading apparatusof the mobile terminal will be described hereinafter.

[0030]FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a file downloading method ofthe mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.This method can be implemented using the apparatus 200 of FIG. 2 and thesystem of FIG. 1, but can be implemented in other apparatuses and/orsystems.

[0031] As depicted in FIG. 3, after the mobile terminal is connectedwith a contents server 150 on the Internet or any other network, the CPU230 of the file downloading apparatus 200 periodically checks whether ornot there is a file download signal as shown at step S301. If a filedownload signal is inputted by a user or system, the CPU 230 establishesa data transfer link with the contents server 150 which has a requestedfile at step S302, and determines whether the file download signal is auser request file download signal generated by the user or a systemrequest file download signal generated by the system at step S303. TheCPU 230 performs a user request file download procedure at step S304when the file download signal is a user request file download signal orperforms a system request file download procedure at step S305 when thefile download signal is a system request file download signal. The userand system file download procedures will be explained in detail later.

[0032] While downloading the file in the user or system request filedownload procedure, the CPU 230 periodically checks whether or not thefile download has been completed at step S306 and the process returns tostep S301 when the file download has been successfully completed. On theother hand, if the file download is not completed, the CPU 230determines whether or not a download termination signal is inputted atstep S307. The download termination signal can be inputted by the useror the system, and is a command to terminate the download process.

[0033] When there is the download termination signal, the CPU 230 storesthe data downloaded up to now as a temporary file in the memory 240 orin its storage at step S308 and determines whether the downloadtermination signal is a user request download termination signal or asystem request download termination signal at step S309. The CPU 230performs a user request download termination procedure at step S310 whenthe download termination signal is a user request download terminationsignal and performs a system request download termination procedure atstep S311 when the download termination signal is a system requestdownload suspension signal. When the user request download terminationprocedure or the system request download termination procedure isfinished, the algorithm of the CPU 230 returns to step S301. In thepresent invention, the download termination can be a temporary downloadtermination (suspension), or a permanent download termination(cancellation).

[0034] At step S303, the entrance into the user request downloadprocedure of step S304 is triggered when the user firstly tries todownload the file or retries to download the file after the download issuspended by the user for voice communication or by the system becauseof aggravation of the communication environments. The downloadsuspension/cancellation by the user is performed according to the userrequest download termination procedure at step S310. On the other hand,the entrance into the system request download procedure is triggered bythe system when the mobile terminal moves into a radio shadow area, acommunication with the BTS 120 is broken due to a battery discharge orsome other reason, or a data transfer link between the mobile terminaland the contents server 150 is cut off by problems such as trafficcongestion on the Internet 140, a trouble at the contents server 150,etc. That is, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention, the system request download procedure is triggered if thereis an incomplete downloading of a file due to somesystem/device/environment errors or failures. The download terminationby the system is performed according to the system request downloadtermination procedure at step S311.

[0035]FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the user request downloadprocedure (S304) in FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0036] As depicted in FIG. 4, when the file downloading apparatus 200starts the user request download procedure, the CPU 230 of the mobileterminal determines whether or not the download status information of arequested file exists in the download status checker 250 at step S401.The download status checker 250 may obtain the download statusinformation from the memory 240 or from its own storage 250 a. In thisembodiment, the presence of the download status information of a fileimplies that the download of that file has not been completed. Theabsence of the download status information implies that the download ofthe file is completed. If the download status information of therequested file exists indicating incomplete downloading, the CPU 230transmits this download status information and a download request signalto the contents server 150 (e.g., via the Internet 140 or other network)at step S402 and resumes the downloading of the file from the point atwhich the download was stopped in the previous download session at stepS403. The download status information identifies to the contents server150 the point in the file from which the download should be resumed. Inthe meantime, when the download status information about the requestedfile does not exist in the download status checker 250, the CPU 230transmits the download request signal to the contents server 150 withoutthe download status information as shown at step S404 so as to downloadthe file from the start of the file, e.g., the byte offset 0, at stepS405.

[0037]FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the system request downloadprocedure (S305) in FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0038] As depicted in FIG. 5, when the file downloading apparatus 200starts the system request download procedure which in this exampleimplies an incomplete downloading, the CPU 230 of the mobile terminaldisplays a download suspension reason to the user through the display280 or/and the speaker 290 at step S501 and asks the user if the userwishes to resume the downloading of the file at step S502. If the userinputs a download resumption signal by keypad manipulation or some othermeans, the CPU 230 establishes a data transfer link between the mobileterminal and the contents server 150 at step S503 and transmits adownload request signal to the contents server 150 with the downloadstatus information at step S504. Accordingly, the file download isresumed from the point at which the download was stopped in the previousfile transfer session, based on the download status information, e.g.,from the next expected byte offset contained in the download statusinformation, at step S505.

[0039] At step S502, if the user does not wish to resume downloading(e.g., if a download cancel signal is inputted by the user), the CPU 230asks the user if he or she wants to delete the temporary file storedduring the previous download session or maintain the temporary file inthe memory 240 in order to resume download of the file later at stepS506. As such, the temporary file containing the portion of the filedownloaded so far is deleted at step S507 when a file delete signal isinputted, or the temporary file is maintained in the memory 240 based onthe user's request.

[0040]FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the user request downloadtermination procedure (S310) in FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0041] As depicted in FIG. 6, the CPU 230 of the mobile terminal checkswhether there is a download suspension signal or a download cancelsignal. When the download suspension signal is inputted at step S601,the CPU 230 stores in the memory 240 or other storage the temporary filewith the download status information lastly detected by the downloadstatus checker 250 at step S602 and terminates the current downloadsession at step S603.

[0042] On the other hand, at step S601 if the download cancel signal isinputted, the CPU 230 deletes the temporary file associated with therequested file at step S604 and terminates the current file downloadsession as shown at step S603.

[0043] The file download can be suspended by the user when a datatransfer rate is sharply lowered due to the radio environmentdeterioration such as sudden increase of the number of mobile terminalsaccessing the pertinent BTS or when the user terminates the filedownload session for voice communication.

[0044]FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the system request downloadtermination procedure (S311) in FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0045] As depicted in FIG. 7, the CPU 230 of the mobile terminal storesin the memory 240 or some other storage the temporary file with thedownload status information lastly detected by the download statuschecker 250 and the download termination reason at steps S701 and S702.As discussed above, the temporary file contains a portion of therequested file downloaded so far. Then the CPU 230 terminates thecurrent file download session at step S703. Optionally, before or duringthis download termination process, the system informs the user of thedownload termination reason using the display 280 and/or speaker or someother means.

[0046] The system request download termination signal can be generatedwhen the mobile terminal 110 moves into a radio shadow area, acommunication with the BTS 120 is cut off due to the battery dischargeor some other reason, a data transfer link between the mobile terminal110 and the contents server 150 is cut off by the system request due toproblems such as traffic congestion on the Internet 140 and breakdown ofthe contents server 150, or due to some other reason. In that case, thesystem informs the user of the download termination reason such as“Download is suspended/terminated because the mobile terminal entersinto a non-service available area”, “Download is suspended/terminatedbecause the battery is empty”, etc. on the display 280 or/and via thespeaker 290, stores the download suspension reason and the downloadstatus information, and simultaneously stores the data downloaded up towhen the download is suspended.

[0047] In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, theuser request download termination and the download retry procedure canbe performed by selecting a certain item among items displayed on thedisplay 280 by a keypad manipulation or some other means on the display280 and/or via voice-activated commands.

[0048] In addition, the file download procedure and the file downloadtermination procedure can be performed individually for plural files.Accordingly, it is possible to start downloading one file aftersuspending/cancelling a download of another file which is downloadedthrough a different file transfer link. Also, it is possible to deleteor resume downloading a specific file according to the user'sinstructions. It is also possible to perform by one or more mobileterminals the multiple file download/termination proceduressimultaneously in parallel for multiple files using different filetransfer links.

[0049] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, thedownload status information includes a next expected byte offset of arequested file, a data amount of the file downloaded up to that point,an IP address information of the associated contents server, a locationof the file in the contents server, etc.

[0050] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, theuser request download and user request download termination proceduresare performed through a forward link traffic channel between the mobileterminal and the BTS. In other words, when there is a download requestor download termination request by the user, the mobile terminal sendsthe download request or download termination request signals to the BTSsystem using information bits of forward link, which includes thedownload status information, and the BTS system establishes orterminates a data transfer link with the contents server according tothe download request or the download suspension request signal.

[0051] On the other hand, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention, the system request download and system requestdownload termination procedures are performed through a reverse linktraffic channel between the mobile terminal and the BTS. That is, whenthe transfer rate significantly decreases because the mobile terminalenters a radio shadow area or the transmission power becomes weak due tothe battery consumption or the transfer link is broken due to problemssuch as traffic congestion and breakdown of the contents server, the BTSsystem informs the mobile terminal that the download transfer session issuspended or cancelled, using information bit(s) of the reverse linktraffic channel. If the mobile terminal is out of the radio shadow area,the battery is charged, or the traffic congestion or breakout of thecontents server is solved such that the download of the desired file canbe resumed, the BTS system informs the mobile terminal that it ispossible to download the file. In this case the mobile terminal reportsto the user that the download can be resumed through the display or/andthe speaker and ask the user to resume or cancel the download of thefile. If the download request signal for the file suspended in theprevious download session is inputted by the user, the mobile terminalestablishes a new data transfer channel with the contents server andresumes the download of the file.

[0052] The features of the embodiments of the present invention can becombined or substituted with each other to provide variations of thepresent invention, which are contemplated to be part of the presentinvention.

[0053] The present invention is not limited to downloading files, but isapplicable to downloading any other forms of data and information. Also,the present invention is not limited to the use of a mobile terminalover the Internet, but is equally applicable to the user of other typesof communication devices using communication techniques.

[0054] The processing steps of the present invention can be implementedusing any known computer programming language.

[0055] As described above, in the file downloading apparatus and methodfor the mobile terminal of the present invention, it is possible toresume or cancel the downloading of the file which is stopped during aprevious download session.

[0056] Also, even though the data transfer link is broken during thedownload of the file due to unexpected network problems, it is possibleto resume downloading the file from the point at which the download wasstopped in the previous data transfer session, thereby reducing thedownloading time and cost significantly.

[0057] Furthermore, the present invention minimizes the burden forsearching the same file again and thereby reduces the time andcommunication cost for downloading the file.

[0058] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that thesame may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regardedas a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intendedto be included within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A file downloading apparatus for a mobileterminal in a communication system which supports a file downloadservice, the apparatus comprising: a signal processing unit whichprocesses a signal received through an antenna of the mobile terminal; amemory which stores data outputted from the signal processing unit;download status checker which checks a download status of a file bymonitoring the data stored in the memory; and a CPU which controls thesignal processing unit and the download status checker.
 2. The filedownloading apparatus of claim 1, wherein the download status checkergenerates download status information of the file based on the checkeddownload status, and the download status checker stores the downloadstatus information in a storage unit.
 3. The file downloading apparatusof claim 2, wherein the download status checker updates the downloadstatus information periodically.
 4. The file downloading apparatus ofclaim 3, wherein the download status information includes a data amountof the file stored in the memory.
 5. The file downloading apparatus ofclaim 3, wherein the download status information includes a nextexpected byte offset number of the file.
 6. The file downloadingapparatus of claim 4, wherein the download status information includes anext expected byte offset number of the file.
 7. The file downloadingapparatus of claim 6, wherein a base station system informs the mobileterminal that the download of the file is suspended or can be resumedusing information bits of a reverse channel when the download of thefile is suspended or resumed by a system request signal.
 8. The filedownloading apparatus of claim 7, wherein the mobile terminal requests asuspension or resumption of the download of the file to the base stationsystem using information bits of a forward channel when the download issuspended or resumed by a user request signal.
 9. The file downloadingapparatus of claim 1, wherein the download status checker stores adownload status information and a portion of the file downloaded justbefore a data link for downloading the file is broken so that thedownloading of the file can be resumed from a downloading interruptedpoint in the file.
 10. The file downloading apparatus of claim 9,wherein the download status information includes an IP addressinformation of a contents server having the file, a directory in whichthe file is stored, and a next expected byte offset number of the file.11. The file downloading apparatus of claim 10, wherein a base stationsystem informs the mobile terminal that the download of the file issuspended or can be resumed using information bits of a reverse channelwhen the download of the file is suspended or resumed by a systemrequest signal.
 12. The file downloading apparatus of claim 11, whereinthe mobile terminal requests a download suspension or downloadresumption to the base station system by using information bits of aforward channel when download is suspended in file downloading orresumed by a user request signal.
 13. A file downloading method for amobile terminal in a communication system which supports a file downloadservice, the method comprising: (a) determining whether or not a filedownload signal for a target file is inputted; (b) establishing a datatransfer link with a contents server when the download signal isinputted; (c) downloading the target file; (d) determining whether ornot the downloading of the target file is completely finished; (e)determining whether or not a download termination signal for the targetfile is inputted when the downloading of the target file is notfinished; (f) storing a portion of the target file downloaded up to thedownload termination signal being inputted, as a temporary file when thedownload termination signal is inputted; and (g) terminating thedownloading of the target file.
 14. The file downloading method of claim13, further comprising: (h) determining whether the file download signalis a user request file download signal or a system request file downloadsignal.
 15. The file downloading method of claim 14, further comprising:(i) performing a user request file download procedure when the filedownload signal is the user request file download signal.
 16. The filedownloading method of claim 15, wherein the user request file downloadprocedure includes: determining whether or not download statusinformation on the target file exists; transmitting a download requestsignal including the download status information to the contents serverwhen the download status information on the target file exists; andresuming the downloading of the target file from a next expected data.17. The file download method of claim 16, wherein the user request filedownload procedure further includes: transmitting a download requestsignal without the download status information to the contents serverwhen the download status information on the target file does not exist;and starting the downloading of the target file from a start of thetarget file.
 18. The file downloading method of claim 16, wherein thedownload status information includes a next expected byte offset numberof the target file.
 19. The file downloading method of claim 16, whereinthe download status information includes an IP address information ofthe contents server, a directory address of the target file, and a nextexpected byte offset number of the target file.
 20. The file downloadingmethod of claim 14, further comprising: (j) performing a system requestfile download procedure when the file download signal is the systemrequest file download signal.
 21. The file downloading method of claim20, wherein the system request file download procedure includes:informing that the downloading of the target file is suspended;determining whether or not a download resumption signal is inputted;establishing a data transfer link with the contents server when thedownload resumption signal is inputted; transmitting a download requestsignal including download status information on the target file, to thecontents server; and resuming the downloading of the target file from anext expected data.
 22. The file downloading method of claim 21, whereinthe system request file download procedure further includes: determiningwhether or not a portion of the target file already downloaded during aprevious download session is to be deleted or maintained when there isno download resumption signal; and deleting the downloaded portion ofthe target file when a delete signal is received.
 23. The filedownloading method of claim 21, wherein the download status informationincludes a next expected byte offset number of the target file.
 24. Thefile downloading method of claim 21, wherein the download statusinformation includes an IP address information of the contents server, adirectory address in which the target file is located, and a nextexpected byte offset number of the target file.
 25. The file downloadingmethod of claim 13, further comprising: (k) determining whether thedownload termination signal is a user request download terminationsignal or a system request download termination signal after storing thetemporary file.
 26. The file downloading method of claim 25, furthercomprising: (l) performing a user request download termination procedurewhen the download termination signal is the user request downloadtermination signal.
 27. The file downloading method of claim 26, whereinthe user request download termination procedure includes: determiningwhether a download suspension signal or a download cancel signal isinputted; storing the portion of the target file downloaded up to theinput of the download termination signal, together with download statusinformation of the target file when the download suspension signal isreceived; and finishing the current download session.
 28. The filedownloading method of claim 27, wherein the user request downloadtermination procedure further includes: deleting the temporary file whenthe download cancel signal is inputted.
 29. The file downloading methodof claim 25, further comprising: (m) performing a system requestdownload termination procedure when the download termination requestsignal is a system request download termination signal.
 30. The filedownloading method of claim 29, wherein the system request downloadtermination procedure includes: storing the portion of the target filedownloaded up to the input of the download termination signal, togetherwith download status information of the target file when the systemrequest download termination signal is received; storing a downloadsuspension reason; and finishing the current download session of thetarget file.
 31. A method of downloading a data group, the methodcomprising: establishing a data transfer link between a mobile terminaland a host; beginning a downloading of a target data group from the hostto the mobile terminal over a network; temporarily storing a portion ofthe target data group downloaded so far when the downloading of thetarget data group is interrupted; and resuming the downloading of thetarget data group from a next downloadable portion of the target datagroup during a next download session.
 32. The method of claim 31,further comprising: deleting the temporarily stored portion of thetarget data group if a delete signal is received.
 33. The method ofclaim 31, wherein the downloading of the target data group is initiatedby a user or system.
 34. The method of claim 31, further comprising:suspending or canceling the downloading of the target data group basedon a user-initiated or system-initiated command.
 35. A device fordownloading a data group, the device comprising: means for establishinga data transfer link between a mobile terminal and a host; means forbeginning a downloading of a target data group from the host to themobile terminal over a network; means for temporarily storing a portionof the target data group downloaded so far when the downloading of thetarget data group is interrupted; and means for resuming the downloadingof the target data group from a next downloadable portion of the targetdata group during a next download session.
 36. The device of claim 35,further comprising: means for deleting the temporarily stored portion ofthe target data group if a delete signal is received.
 37. The device ofclaim 35, wherein the downloading of the target data group is initiatedby a user or system.
 38. The device of claim 35, further comprising:means for suspending or canceling the downloading of the target datagroup based on a user-initiated or system-initiated command.